THE latest episode in the iconic “Star Wars” space saga finished the year on top of the domestic box office, data confirmed Tuesday, contributing to a second best-ever year for Disney.

“The Last Jedi” earned US$66.8 million over the four-day holiday weekend in North America, for a US$531.5 million domestic total since its opening three weeks ago, said industry watcher Exhibitor Relations.

Disney announced Sunday that the movie had passed the US$1 billion mark worldwide after just three weeks, and the latest figures cement its position as 2017’s most successful film in North America ahead of another Disney property, “Beauty and the Beast” (US$504 million).

It added that its US$6.5 billion global total for 2017 had given the company its second biggest-year ever and the third-largest in history. It is the second consecutive year Disney has surpassed the US$6 billion mark.

While “The Last Jedi” ruled in the United States, Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” was the number one film globally in 2017, with a worldwide take of US$1.3 billion.

Other Disney big-hitters included two Marvel movies “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” (US$863.6 million) and “Thor: Ragnarok” (US$848.8 million), and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” (US$794.8 million).